In Defense of the Strategic Perspective of Populism and Its Link to Constitutional Reforms

Abstract

This article analyzes the dynamics of populism in power from a strategic perspective, examining its direct link with constitutional reform processes. While specialized literature predominantly favors ideational or discursive approaches, this study demonstrates that the strategic framework offers superior empirical value by focusing on concrete actions, personalistic leadership, and power preservation. In contextual environments characterized by weak state capacities and hyper-presidentialism, such as Latin America, populist rulers instrumentally exploit constitutional designs and plebiscitary mechanisms to execute strategies of state capture. Through a sequential process of constructive and restrictive constitutionalism, these regimes systematically dismantle horizontal checks and balances, capture judicial oversight bodies, and neutralize political pluralism. Ultimately, this article concludes that the prolonged deployment of these vertical transformations establishes contemporary forms of authoritarian constitutionalism, wherein elites strategically utilize a formal liberal-democratic fac¸ade to disguise and insulate systematically autocratic practices.